Device for securing a toilet to a floor



P 15, 1964 H. MULLER 3,148,379

DEVICE FOR szcuamc A TOILET TO A FLOOR Filed June 25, 1963 2 Sheet-Sheet 1 INVENDTOR HANS MULLER ATTORNEY.

Sept. 15, 1964 H. MULLER 3,148,379

DEVICE FOR SECURING A TOILET TO A FLOOR Filed June 25, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 6.v

FIG. 9.

INVENTQR HANS MULLER BY ATTORNEY.

United States Patent Ofi ice 3,143,379 Patented Sept. 15, 1964 3,148,379 DEVICE F R SECURING A TOILET T6 A FLOQR Hans Miiller, Werderstrasse 14, Stuttgart, Germany Filed June 25, 1%3, Ser. No. 290,401 12 Claims. (ill. 4-1) The present invention relates to a device for securing the body of a toilet having a hollow base to the floor, and it is one object of the present invention to provide such a device which permits the toilet body to be secured to the floor in a manner such that the device itself or any other securing means are not visible from the outside.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a device for securing the body of a toilet to the floor, which includes a spring bar in the form of a leaf spring or spring rod which is mounted at the inside of the hollow base of the toilet body and is anchored to the floor and connected to the toilet base, and which is adapted to be tightened within the hollow base by means of a crankshaft, so as to press the toilet body firmly against the floor.

The device according to the present in ention has the advantage that no mounting bolt or bolts appear on the outside of the toilet body, that therefore no holes have to be hit or drilled into an expensive floor covering outside of the base of the toilet, and that no stresses are produced in the edge portion of the toilet base which may result in cracks in the porcelain.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent in the following detailed description, the present invention will be clearly understood in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a toilet body and the securing device according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 discloses in cross section the manner of securing a leaf spring elastically to an anchor bolt;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal section of the bearing of one end of the crankshaft;

FIG. 4 is a cross-section along the lines 44 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross-section similar to that according to FIG. 4 and illustrating another embodiment of the leaf spring;

FIG. 6 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a toilet body which is secured to the floor by a U-shaped leaf p FIG. 7 is a cross-section along the lines 7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a toilet base which is secured to the floor by a rod-shaped spring; and

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the spring rod according to FIG. 8.

Referring now to the drawings, the device according to the present invention for securing a toflet body 1 on the floor 6 comprises a spring bar 7 in the form of a leaf spring or a spring rod, a crankshaft 4, and an anchor bolt consisting of a lag screw 2 and a nut 3 for securing the spring 7 to the floor 6. The lag screw 2 is secured to the floor 6 in the usual manner by cement 2.

In the embodiments of the present invention, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5, the spring 7 is formed as a twoarrned leaf spring which is resiliently mounted by means of cup springs 9 on the anchor bolt 2 and 3. As seen in a plan view, the spring 7 may be either straight, as shown in FIG. 4, or its shorter arm may be bifurcated, as shown at 7b in FIG. 5. The end or ends of this shorter single or bifurcated arm act upon an inner flange 1a or a pair of corner flanges of the toilet base and exert a resilient pressure thereon, to secure the front end of the toilet base securely to the floor. The other longer arm of the leaf spring 7 is bent upwardly and presses upon the eccentric part of the crankshaft 4. The end 7a of this longer arm of the leaf spring is bent downwardly to form a stop against which crankshaft 4 engages when it is turned to tighten the spring 7 to the possible maximum extent. One end of the crankshaft 4 is rotatably mounted in a bearing flange at the inside of one side wall of the toilet base, while its other end, as shown particularly in FIG. 3, extends through the opposite side wall of the toilet base and terminates in'a head 4a upon which a wrench or similar tool may be applied for turning the crankshaft from the outside so as to tighten the spring 7. The head 4a of the crankshaft 4 is covered by a decorative cap 10. The lower side of the toilet base is provided with a continuous groove 5, in which an elastic cordlike sealing strip is inserted by means of which the toilet is tightly sealed to the floor when the leaf spring 7 is tightened.

When the toilet body 1 is to be installed, the leaf spring '7 is at first mounted on the anchor bolt 2 and 3. The toilet body 1, which at first does not contain the crank shaft 4, is then lowered from above over the leaf spring '7 and to such a position that the end of the rear outlet pipe of the toilet passes into the larger open end of the drain pipe which projects from the floor 6. Before a sealing compound is inserted in the usual manner between the telescoped ends of these two pipes, the lateral clearance between these pipe ends is conventionally so large as to permit the toilet body 1 which then rests on the floor 6 to be shifted toward the rear to such an eX- tent that the wedge-shaped edge of the flange or flanges in. can slip underneath the front end of the single or bifurcated shorter arm of the leaf spring 7 and this end of the spring will then sufficiently overlap the flange or flanges 1a. The crankshaft 4 is then inserted through the larger bore in one side wall of the toilet base and passed underneath the end of the longer arm of the spring 7, and its one end is then inserted into the bearing flange on the other side wall of the toilet base. The crankshaft 4 may be very smoothly curved between its ends to form the eccentric part thereon, in which event the bore in the side wall of the toilet base does not have to be much larger than the diameter of the crankshaft 4 to permit the latter to be passed easily through this bore. If, however, the eccentric part of the crankshaft 4 is bent at sharper angles to the axis of the shaft, so that the bore in the side wall of the toilet base has to be rather large to permit this eccentric part to be maneuvered through the bore, a bushing or the like, as indicated at 4 in FIG- URE 3, may finally be slipped over the head 4a of the crankshaft and into the bore so as to fill out the clearance between the shaft and the wall of the bore.

After the crankshaft 4 has been inserted into the bearing flange on the rear side wall of the toilet base, a wrench or other suitable tool is applied upon the head in of the crankshaft 4 and the latter is turned in clockwise direction, as shown by the arrow B until its eccentric part engages with the end stop 7a of the spring 7. The leaf spring 7 is thereby tightened to such an extentt that the toilet body 1 is firmly clamped to the floor 6. The end stop 7a of the spring 7 locks the crankshaft 4 over center and thus prevents it from turning back to its springreleasing position. After the tool with which the crankshaft has been turned has been removed from the head 4a, a decorative cap it? is applied over this head 4a and secured to the base of the toilet body in any suitable manner.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a toilet body 1 of another conventional design which is fitted directly over the end of the drain pipe in the floor and, therefore, has a shorter hollow base portion for receiving the securing device according to the present invention. This device consists in this case of a U-shaped leaf spring 7 which is secured at one arm to the anchor bolt 2 and 3 either in the same manner as shown in FIG. 2 by cup springs 9 or by being pressed by the nut 3 upon athick rubber washer on the floor 6. The crankshaft 4 is inserted into and mounted in the toilet base in a similar manner as described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5; however, a shown in PEG. 6, the crankshaft 4 is in this case turned in counterclockwise direction B until the eccentric part of the crankshaft engages over center against a stop 7a which is secured to the upper arm of spring 7'. In order to lock the toilet body also against any lateral movement on the floor 6, it is preferably provided with inner flanges or ribs 1b which encompass the curved part of spring '7 in lateral directions. The toilet base is sealed to the surface of the floor by an elastic ring 11a and 11b, of rubber or plastic which has a V-shaped cross section and is applied around the entire bottom edge portion of the toilet base, so as to cling thereto under tension before the toilet is actually mounted on the floor. This considerably facilitates the installation of the toilet.

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate a further modification of the invention in which the spring '7 consists of a rod or bar of a round cross section which is provided at one end with an eye 70 for securing the spring 7 to the anchor bolt 2 and 3, while its other end is bent downwardly to form a stop 711 which acts upon the crankshaft 4 in the same manner as described with reference to FIG. 1. Also, in this case, the base of the toilet may be provided with an elastic sealing ring 11a and 11b.

Although my invention has been illustrated and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, I wish to have it understood that it is in no way limited to the details of such embodiments, but is capable of numerous modifications.

While I have disclosed several embodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood that these embodiments are given by example only and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the present invention being determined by the objects and the claims.

I claim:

1. A device for securing a toilet body to a floor, said toilet body having a base with a cavity therein and an opening in the lower :side thereof, said device comprising a spring bar, means for anchoring said spring bar to said floor in a position so as to extend into said cavity, and a crankshaft rotatably mounted on said base and extending transversely through said base in said cavity and having one end extending through a bore in one side wall of said base to permit a tool to be applied to said end for turning said crankshaft from the outside, the ec centric part of said crankshaft then engaging with said spring to tighten the latter and, thereby, to clamp said toilet body resiliently upon said floor.

2. The device, as set fonth in claim 1, further comprising a stop member on said spring bar for limiting the extent of the rotation of said crankshaft to an over-center position, to prevent said crankshaft from turning back under the pressure of said spring bar.

3. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said toilet base has at least one bottom flange projecting into said cavity from one end wall of said base, said spring bar forming a bent leaf spring secured intermediate its ends to said anchoring means and having one end overlapping said flange and pressing the latter upon said floor and the other end pressing upon the eccentric part of said crankshaft.

4. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said toilet base has at least one bottom flange projecting into said cavity from one end wall of said base, said spring bar forming a bent leaf spring having two arms and secured intermediate said arms to said anchoring means, one of said arms being bifurcated and its ends overlapping said flange at two points laterally spaced from each other and pressing said flange upon said floor, and the end of the other arm of said leaf spring pressing upon the eccentric part of said crankshaft.

5. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said anchoring means consists of a single anchor bolt comprising a lag screw having one part cemented in said floor and another part projecting therefrom, and extending through a bore in said spring bar and a nut on the outer end of said lag screw for maintaining said spring bar on said lag screw.

6. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said anchoring means consist of a single anchor bolt comprising a lag screw having one part cemented in said floor and another part projecting therefrom and extending through a bore in said spring bar and a nut on the outer end of said lag screw for maintaining said spring bar on said lag screw, and elastic means on said lag screw and engaging with at least one side of said spring bar.

7. The device, as set forth in claim 1, in which the diameter of said bore in said one side wall is considerably larger than the diameter of said crankshaft to permit the eccentric part thereof to be maneuvered through said bore when said crankshaft is inserted into said base, and a bushing fitted over the outer end of said crankshaft and slipped into said bore to close the annular gap between said crankshaft and the wall of said bore.

8. The device, as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a decorative cap connected to said side wall of said toilet base and closing said bore and covering the outer end of said crankshaft.

9. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said spring bar forms a substantially U-shaped leaf spring having one arm secured to said anchoring means and the other arm pressing from above upon the eccentric part of said crankshaft.

10. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said anchoring means consist of a single anchor bolt comprising a lag screw having one part cemented in said floor and another part projecting therefrom, and extending through a bore in said spring bar and a nut on the outer end of said lag screw for maintaining said spring bar on said lag screw, and internal projections on the walls of said cavity in said toilet base substantially engaging with the lateral sides of said spring bar to prevent lateral movements of said toilet body relative to said spring bar.

11. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said spring bar consists of a spring rod having an eye on one end secured to said anchoring means and pressing at a point near its other end from above upon the eccentric part of said crankshaft, said other end being bent downwardly to form said stop.

12. The device. as set forth in claim 1, further com.- prising elastic means interposed between said toilet base and said floor and :operatively associated with said spring bar for securing said toilet body to said floor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 750,282 Honold Jan. 26, 1904 961,685 Cosgrove, June 14, 1910 2,270,286 Gerriets Jan. 20, 1942 2,488,816 Heaton Nov. 22, 1949 2,651,483 Ritchie et a1. Sept. 8, 1953 

1. A DEVICE FOR SECURING A TOILET BODY TO A FLOOR, SAID TOILET BODY HAVING A BASE WITH A CAVITY THEREIN AND AN OPENING IN THE LOWER SIDE THEREOF, SAID DEVICE COMPRISING A SPRING BAR, MEANS FOR ANCHORING SAID SPRING BAR TO SAID FLOOR IN A POSITION SO AS TO EXTEND INTO SAID CAVITY, AND A CRANKSHAFT ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID BASE AND EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY THROUGH SAID BASE IN SAID CAVITY AND HAVING ONE END EXTENDING THROUGH A BORE IN ONE SIDE WALL OF SAID BASE TO PERMIT A TOOL TO BE APPLIED TO SAID END FOR TURNING SAID CRANKSHAFT FROM THE OUTSIDE, THE ECCENTRIC PART OF SAID CRANKSHAFT THEN ENGAGING WITH SAID SPRING TO TIGHTEN THE LATTER AND, THEREBY, TO CLAMP SAID TOILET BODY RESILENTLY UPON SAID FLOOR. 